Three things to watch for in the first week of Las Cruces high school football

LAS CRUCES – High school football kicks off in New Mexico this weekend with some intriguing local storylines to keep an eye on.

Mayfield and Organ Mountain made splashy hires at the head coach position while Las Cruces looks to return to the top of the state and Centennial looks to stay among the state's best programs.

Here are three things to watch for local teams entering Week 1 of high school football in New Mexico:

Gary Bradley era kicks off at Mayfield High

Mayfield High School football stayed in the Bradley family after Gary Bradley was hired to replace his brother, Michael Bradley, as head coach of the Trojans.

Gary Bradley has 78 head coaching wins under his belt at Farmington and Carlsbad. He was 54-31 with six postseason appearances at Farmington and won the Class 4A state championship in 2013 to cap a 12-1 season.

Bradley was the Trojans offensive coordinator for the Trojans last year so he is familiar with the roster.

"I stuck with what I have learned here at Mayfield and other programs and just added to it," said Bradley, whose team opens the season at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Manzano. "It depends on the team you have and the guys coming up. There will be a lot of similarities to what we ran and that starts with the quarterback."

Luke Linnan played running back last year, but he moved to quarterback for 2023. Linnan will have an experienced offensive line in front of him that includes seniors Frank Sanchez, Alan Terrazas and Gary Madrid.

"The offensive line is the strength of the team," Bradley said. "We don't have a lot of seniors, but the seniors we do have are on the offensive line and the leadership of the team."

Bradley said the Trojans will have multiple players who will play on offense and defense and they will play a lot of young players to begin the season.

"We have a young team so we are trying to figure that out," Bradley said. "We have a lot of guys who will be rotating, which is good for the future and for our depth."

The Trojans made the Class 5A playoffs last year without winning a game in the hardest 5A district in the state that included state champion Artesia and No. 2 seed Roswell.

"We will see how it all pans out, but I think the whole district will be in the Top 5 in the state," Bradley said.

Centennial hosts state power to open season

Centennial opened last season with a 38-35 road win at Rio Rancho Cleveland.

It gave the Hawks early momentum, which they carried to a state semifinal run while Cleveland went on to win the big school state title.

The Hawks beat Cleveland 38-35 and they open with a home game against the Storm at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Field of Dreams.

"We always look at the previous year to see what they did schematically, but we are a different team and they have some different guys also," Hawks coach Aaron Ocampo said. "It's going to be interesting to see how the game goes."

The Hawks ran the ball well against Cleveland last year and throughout the season with a veteran offensive line and elite running back.

"Last year we ran the ball pretty well and made some big pass plays and got off the field on defense a few times," Ocampo said. "Offensively, Cleveland runs the ball very well, their offensive line is very sound with high energy and effort and their running back is solid. Defensively, their front seven is very good."

The Hawks have a difficult non-district schedule that also includes state runner-up La Cueva — the only team to beat the Hawks last year — but another Week 1 win over the state champion would give the Hawks some early momentum.

"I'm not sure how it will play out, but I like our team and our work ethic," Ocampo said. "There have been a lot of good seasons where we lost our first week. It's just week by week and trying to get better, but it's an advantage to play a really good team early because you have to be really focused and ready to play."

Can Las Cruces return to form?

The Bulldawgs are coming off a two-win season last year as they open the season against Volcano Vista at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Field of Dreams.

Volcano Vista reached the big school semifinals last season and beat Las Cruces 34-17 in Week 1.

The Bulldawgs are a young team but they were even younger last year. If the Bulldawgs can get the game to the fourth quarter against a team they lost to by multiple scores a year ago, it's a good sign the Bulldawgs are back on the path to the playoffs.

"All of these early games are a gauge on how we are improving because all of the teams are so good," Bulldawgs coach Mark Lopez said. "For us, do we have the ability to maintain our focus on what we have to do on every single play? I think that is going to be what it comes down to."

Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Three things to watch: Las Cruces high school football Week 1